To meet the demands of today’s evolving coiled tubing service market, NOV® Hydra Rig® has developed a hydraulically powered, computer controlled system that provides unprecedented operational performance and safety for coiled tubing unit operation.

Since the early days of the coiled tubing industry, all the components of the coiled tubing unit have been designed to be driven by hydraulics, with an operator’s cabin for remotely controlling the injector, reel, BOPs, and power pack. The operational functions of the unit are controlled with manual hydraulic valves and gages mounted into a central control console in the cabin. Since all monitoring and control is manual, a high degree of operator training and awareness is needed to properly control the unit throughout the job; with many chances for error that can cause damage to the tubing, the unit, and ultimately, the well being worked on in extreme cases. As the work that coiled tubing is asked to perform has become more complicated, so has the hydraulic control system of the coiled tubing unit (CTU) further increasing the chance for error. There are a small percentage of coiled tubing units in operation around the world that are controlled electric-over- hydraulic, many of them pioneered by National Oilwell Varco’s Calgary coiled tubing manufacturing division.

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